The heavy dose of copyright protection in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray could potentially doom both formats. HDCP has such a heavy hardware requirement that if you are missing even one aspect of its requirements, you'll automatically be downgraded to 480p. Don't have an HDMI connection on your expensive HDTV? 480p! Have an SPDIF audio connection on your computer, instead of a rare optical audio cable whose name completely escapes me? 480p!

Both formats essentially treat their consumers as if they were all criminals, while the real criminals will always find a way around it anyway.